Gamers solve puzzle that stumped scientists for decade

An article published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology described how gamers playing an online game called Foldit deciphered a puzzle that stumped scientists and automated computers working on the problem for over a decade. In three weeks!

They figured out the protein structure of a monomeric protease enzyme, which is “a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV”. The understanding of this structure is an important step towards discovering the causes of many diseases related to this enzyme and coming up with treatments for them.

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